Sect and Clan

Malkavian: The Scream (Clan is equal to Malkavian): On the night of Tuesday the 26th, you hear a long, furious, utterly heartbroken scream race through your brain. It deafens you for ten minutes per every level of the Awareness ability you possess.

You briefly feel like you have lost something very important and you wish to make sure that everyone else loses something too.

You want to destroy the world, in fact.

Other

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Bureaucracy

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Church

Church x2: Some few claim that an apparition of a strange pale woman covered in blood has been sighted in the ruins of a recently burnt down building in the Bronx. Witnesses claim that the spectre could be heard shrieking or crying intermittently.

Some of the local Catholic community have come to believe that this is another vision of the Virgin Mary, and are very unsettled by what this bodes in conjunction with the Holy Mother's previous appearance at St. Patrick's earlier in March.

There are further whispers regarding the end times.

Church x3: While it is not being widely spoken of, some of those who have seen the vision of the bleeding Madonna in the Bronx claim to have had an ecstatic experience, and to have been overcome by sympathetic suffering for the holy mother.

Some more fanatical devotees have taken to calling the spectre "Our Lady of Pain."

Church x5: There is buzz that "Society" members in New York seem to be successful in their mission against the forces of Satan, although there is word that the problem seems to be more widespread that originally anticipated. They are trying to keep a lower profile

Church x6: Another Auto de Fe was successfully performed against Rachel Dunbine.

Church x7: Members of the Society are fearful of the rumors regarding "Our Lady of Pain" and suspect, given her appearance in the former abode of one of their victims, that she might be yet another class of demonic entity.

Finance

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Health

Health x1: A disorder now colloquially dubbed "sempre-shock" seems to be hitting the city in the wake of the new designer drug, sempreverde. Apparently overdose on xylothanamenic acid (the active hallucinogen in sempreverde) can cause a user to go into comatose shock similar to the flattening symptoms of full-blown schizophrenia.

Health x2: It appears that patients experiencing "sempre-shock" seem to be very susceptible to traditional hypnotic suggestion.

Health x3: A mysterious physiological disorder seems to be hitting residents of the Bronx especially around the ruins of a recently burnt down building in the Bronx.

The symptoms include the onset of sudden and intense pain of the skeletal muscles, resulting in temporary paralysis and occasional unconsciousness.

Officials are pushing for the area in question be quarantined, so that environmental tests may be run.

Health x4: Researchers are still desperately looking to reclassify the mass hysteria that seems to have gripped New York in the wake of the mass-killings during May known as "Devil's Thursday."

While hallucinogens had previously been ruled out as a cause the new effects of xylothanamenic acid as witnessed in "sempre-shock" have led some experts to grow suspicious of a new breed of chemical warfare, as it is seemingly very easy to plant hypnotic suggestions in people under the influence of the drug.

Such findings are NOT being released to the public at the time.

High Society

High Society x1: The increasingly popular darkwave music group Requiem for an Architect released a single called Danse Macabre that, in addition to hitting the top ten, directly references a great deal of the mysterious crimes that seem to plague New York.

These include the murder of Spike Lee, the events of Devil's Thursday, the rape of the Virgin Mary at St. Patrick's, and the fall of the Crüxshadows.

High Society x3: A recent art exhibition in a Manhattan museum has featured a series of installation pieces involving mechanical pseudo-perpetual motion devices. They seem to have been put together by a highly skilled machinist, but curiously enough the artist only goes by the initial M, and refuses to make any public appearance.

One of the statues entitled "Lamia" depicts a transfixed female figure with long claw-like hands, whose eye-sockets emit a continuous stream of red water.

Industry

Industry x4: A small factory in Queens has been making a great deal of custom parts, of a seemingly artistic design.

Legal

Legal x1: An investigation of New York state’s town and village courts found a trail of judicial abuses and errors and of governmental failure to curb them.

Media

Media x1: A large fan outcry has gone out after the death of long-running character Sam McKinney in the hit TV series New York by Night in last week's episode. Ratings for the show are at an all time high, however.

Media x2: The makers of All Wound Up, the documentary that claims that the recent terrorist attacks that claimed Spike Lee's life were an inside job, have launched a website/blog and are rapidly gaining popularity.

Occult

Occult x1: An apparition of a strange pale woman covered in blood has been sighted in the ruins of a recently burnt down building in the Bronx. Witnesses claim that the spectre could be heard shrieking or crying intermittently.

Some people in the vicinity claim to have been overcome with terrible pain upon approaching her. A few seem to have been rendered unconscious.

The cult known as the Brotherhood of the Black Rose are naturally facing a great deal of unwanted Media/Police attention and have moved underground for the most part.

Occult x2: Owls are being highly sought after by occult societies for unknown reasons. The relative scarcity of the bird has given them a high black market value.

Occult x3: In spite of now being in a more secretive position, membership in the Brotherhood of the Black Rose is flourishing.

Police

Police x1: The police now have a primary suspect in the case of the recent arson/murders, and she is taking a very high priority. Reliable witnesses have identified a woman who consistently appears to be wearing Dominican nun's habit, and a police sketch is being released to the public.

Another squatter, this time a woman named Rachel Dunbine, was found dead in the burnt remains of her home Wednesday morning.

Police x3: In the Rachel Dunbine case, yet another silver crucifix seems to have been left at the scene of the crime.

Police x4: Rachel Dunbine's body, unlike the previous two incidents has been recovered (what's left of it). Forensics teams found it curious that a silver bullet was extracted from the victim's skull during autopsy. They found it even more curious that this did not seem to be the immediate cause of death, and that Rachel apparently fought her attacker even after receiving over twenty-three assorted injuries from both bullet fire and what appears to have been a sword.

Police x5: Forensic teams and coroners are baffled further in the Dunbine case, at a cross shaped burn on the woman's forehead, that appears to match up to the crucifix at the scene.

They claim that according to autopsy reports, the cross would have to be glowing white hot to leave such a mark, and that this is inconsistent with the circumstance of the fire.

Politics

Politics x1: In the wake of the student made documentary All Wound Up, an increasing number of young people (up to 25% in some polls) are vocalizing their belief that the terrorist attacks which claimed Spike Lee in NYC this spring were in some way covered-up by government officials.

A recent entry on the blog of Tim Scarborough (one of the film's three creators) analyzes the speech of Governor George Pataki in light of the tragedy, and makes claims that the style is very atypical of those employed by his former speech writers, and refers to pieces of evidence which had not been "discovered" until much later. He seems to hint that it had been pre-prepared for the event.

Street

Street x1: The "Non Serviam" graffiti tags are starting to appear in East Brooklyn.

Street x2: The Syrens in Brooklyn have recently lost significant turf to the Furies of the lower Bronx. The word on the street relates this somewhat humorously to former Syren leader Tony Vasquez's shameful getting-the-shit-kicked-out-of-him by an armed nun.

Street x3: The "Non Serviam" tag is being perpetuated by the Furies, who are using it as an intimidation tactic, given it's alleged connection to "Devil's Thursday".

Transportation

Transportation x1: Airline restrictions on liquids and gels have been somewhat relaxed.

Underworld

Underworld x1: Sempreverde labs are becoming known as safer to run than meth labs, and a great deal of switchover is being made by manufacturers. This is leading to a meth shortage in some areas.

Interestingly enough, it seems that owls (live are dead) are becoming an increasingly sought after black market item.

Underworld x2: A woman named Rachel Dunbine was shot repeatedly and had the building she was squatting in burnt down. This incident seems strangely similar to the cases of Cassandra Zantosa and an unknown man in the Bronx earlier this month.

Rumors of mob involvement are starting to falter, especially after the police announcement that an unknown nun is a primary suspect. However, some people see a similarity to the crimes and the work of known firebug "Jimmy the Torch."

Underworld x4: Jimmy the Torch has skipped town.

University

University x1: Bolivian President Evo Morales and Croatian Prime Minister Dr. Ivo Sanader will appear as speakers at Columbia University during the opening session of the fourth annual Columbia University World Leaders Forum.

University x2: At least two students at NYU have in the past week been hospitalized due to overdosing on the new designer drug sempreverde. The campus administration (shaky as it is in the wake of restructuring) is attempting to enforce its drug policy more strictly.